Why We Have to Fight an article by Max Deschamps, 28 April 742 A.G.S.
I never supported the war with Kusari, Bretonia, and Liberty. I saw it as an ill-veiled attempt of seizing more resources under the pretense of grudges centuries old, that I only read about in history books. That further undermined my belief in Gallic policy: I felt that we were being lied to in the teeth. I know I wasn't the only one to share that sentiment. I say "was" because I've had time and reason to reconsiders my stance. A further look into the problem revealed a lot of curious facts. I'll share them with those willing to read further.
Past Grudges? Non.
It is common knowledge that one of the reasons for the war is retribution. Our fleets were lost protecting the so-called Alliance. Its members decided they had no use for us when they constructed the sleeper ships to escape the Sol system from the wrath of the Coalition. Our ancestors didn't give up and constructed a sleeper ship that brought us to the planet that we now call New Paris.
On their own, the affairs of centuries past wouldn't have been worth the war we're fighting now. The betrayal by the nations of the Alliance is one of the causes, not the reason. It would be foolish to think otherwise, and I remained that fool for a while.
Territories and Resources? Partly.
The sector where the Gallia arrived was blessed with abundance of resources. It is evidenced by the fact that our House has managed to build a fleet worthy of three Houses from Sirius. Oui, that was a taxing endeavor, and we invested a lot. It wouldn't be far-fetched to think that the resources available to us will run out sooner rather than later, especially if the war goes on. Resources and territories were the most prominent reasons for war back on Earth.
But things have changed. We possess superluminal travel and the means to explore the nearby reaches of our galaxy. If we needed more resources, we could've found other avenues for expansion, without throwing the lives of our people away in pointless wars (and every war ultimately is). The fact that we claimed the resource-rich Tau systems during the war is just a coincidence, but not the actual goal.
Peace and Security? Oui.
That took me a long time to realise, so please bear with an equally long explanation. I know that "waging war for peace" sounds like an oxymoron now. To make my point, I'll start from a distance.
After the Gallia arrived, we soon found out that other sleeper ships had already made planetfall in the neighbouring Sirius Sector. As treacherous as we saw them, they had been allies against the Coalition. And the people aboard the sleeper ships couldn't be blamed for the decisions of the Alliance command. We could have just made our presence known. But we didn't. We chose isolation for a reason, to avoid conflict.
Had our presence been known, we would've become a part of Sirius politics. The mere presence of multiple Houses with different interests breeds conflict. Just compare the number of wars in the histories of Sirius and Gallia, that'll put things into perspective. Oui, even despite our advances (far surpassing those in Sirius, as evidenced by the successful ongoing war against 2 Houses) we couldn't avoid wars in our history.
I will not dwell on the goals and the nature of the traitors known as the Council (that is a story for another time). But I'll say this: in their attempts to achieve their goals, they have harmed our people more than the Alliance. The Council ended our isolation and got us involved into the politics of the Sirius Sector prematurely. Eventual confrontation with other Houses was inevitable, especially after the Council's slander to achieve their goals.
We were building our fleets to protect ourselves from the likes of the Coalition. The Kusarians have a saying that a sword keeps another sword in sheath. We were supposed to stay isolated. When found, we would've had the deadliest sword in the sector to deter any warmongers. But the mine fields were breached prematurely.
In secrecy, we had been observing the other Houses. After our emergence, it would be a matter of time until the other Houses would come for us. I don't even need to go far for proof: when we arrived to the scene, Kusari was fighting Bretonia, and Liberty was fighting Rheinland. And those hadn't been their only wars in the last 50 years. Without the guiding principles that made Gallia what it is today, the Houses of Sirius would be doomed to continue that cycle of wars.
There was only one choice possible: pacification. A pre-emptive strike to ensure that the wars of other Houses wouldn't be brought into Gallia. In our conquest forced by unfortunate circumstances, we have created a buffer zone. It will protect our people from outside aggression and give us time to muster forces, should it be necessary. And if we use this war as an opportunity to share the Gallic creed and way of life with those who unfortunately resist us, we may end up with having no enemies to fight. Absolute unity and absolute isolation are the opposites that are one and the same.
In Conclusion
I know that people will have different views on modern history. After all, it is in flux: it has happened, but is yet to be written. If we were to fail, we'd be remembered in Sirius as cruel treacherous warmongers. If we win, we'll remember the war as the unfortunate "lesser evil" that we had to go for due to the Council's folly.
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